A life of conversion. One prayer at a time.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Boriqua style

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Just because I’m not Irish, doesn’t mean I can’t get in on the corned beef action most Irish Americans cook up on this feast day.

Here’s what I’m making for dinner:

Whole food lovers, turn your heads, click away, or go here and make some of her stuff – you ready? Traditional Corned Beef with french fries – or as Gabriel says it, love fries because they’re so good the secret ingredient has to be love, right? Right.

Carne Bif Tradicional con papas fritas

Here are your ingredients:

1 can of Goya* corned beef (yes, in the can full of nitrates)

1tsp olive oil

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup of recaito (Goya*, because my neighbor Nina moved and I can’t score any from her)

2 packets of Sázon*

2 8 oz. cans of Goya* tomato sauce (make sure it’s the one that has flavor, or sabor as we call it, with garlic, peppers and onions pureed in it.)

White rice

2-3 potatoes

Instructions:

Make your rice – however you make it. I make it with a rice cooker, or the easier route, have Mike make it.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add chopped garlic. After a minute or so, add your recaito* and heat through. Pour in both cans of tomato sauce, lower your heat and combine. What’s up Sázon* packets? Add those in there. As that’s heating, open up your can of nitrate infused corned beef (if you don’t have the key, you’re screwed – you can always use the key from the Spam can you have. I hope you have). Now the corned beef is a solid block, you, very gingerly, have to use a fork to smash that up. Much like you’d play with your mashed potatoes, you smash down the corned beef till it becomes one with the sauce. Keep that on low, stirring occasionally.

As that’s heating, make your fries. Yes, they have to be hand cut and homemade.

This entire meal can be made in 45 minutes if you time it right. Most of the time is in the making of the fries. And yes, make an extra one. They’ll love it!

I am the only one in my house that eats this without french fries. I eat it with (ready yourselves) a banana. It’s just how I’ve always eaten it. My aunt taught me that, and it stuck. Some families make the potatoes in the corned beef mixture (as shown above), some don’t use potatoes at all. It’s all about preference and what you grew up eating.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from my family to yours.

*anything that says Goya or has an asterisk beside it, can be found in the International food section of your supermarket – hopefully. If not, I’ll just have to send you some.

Thanks for the link back! I don’t think anyone has ever described my cooking as “whole foods” before. Who knew?? And I have some leftover corned beef from yesterday. Wonder if I could smash it up and turn it into this dish? We have a pretty good-sized Goya section in our supermarket here.

Hello, my name is Cristina. I am a working mother, wife and Catholic convert living an unequally yoked marriage. I am also a writer and social media addict. Sound like I have my hands full? They are, so it helps that I make the best faith cocktails around: equal parts faith, humor and charity. Stick around, I may just surprise ya.